“Kate.” Cole sits up, then sits me up.“This is just terrible timing with your family here.”
I suck in my breath. “My family! Whatmust they think? They’re going to kill me. They cannot find out I wasarrested.” I stand up on the bed, taking the bed sheet with me. “Oh my freakinghell, Cole. What are we going to do? What are we going to tell them? The dress!They’re going to freak over the dress! My mom and sister loved that dress. Jillwill have a field day with this. Oh, holy crap.”
“Cookie.” Cole tries to grab me, but I jumpoff the bed.
“She’ll call me a felon. Wait!” I turn toCole, “Am I a felon? I mean I’m not, right? I was never processed. They didn’ttake a mugshot or my fingerprints. So I’m not a criminal, am I? The ladyofficer guard person said the charges were dropped. My mother will neverforgive me. How bad would that look for you to have a wife who’s a criminal?”
“Kate!” Cole pulls on my bed sheet, andI’m yanked, falling backwards onto the bed with a huff. He hovers over me, hishair falling forward, his sex-ad smile on his face.
I blow out a breath. “Yeah.”
He laughs, and then leans over, kissingme. “Are you done?”
I think about it for a minute. “I thinkso.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
“Would you like to hear the cover storynow?”
“Ooh…we have a cover story?”
“Yes, come here.” Cole pulls me over soI’m sitting, bestride him, and he leans back against the headboard.
“So instead of you heading to lunch withthe girls, I needed you to come to the office and sign some papers.”
“Papers? What papers? My mother will notlet it go at just papers.”
“Cookie.” Cole cups his hands around myface. “Listen, baby.”
“Okay, sorry.”
“I’m receiving a part of my inheritance.I was going to wait and tell you after everything with the merger and sale ofthe shipping company was done.”
“What—” I say something, but Cole givesme the look. “Okay.”
He threads his fingers through my hairand down my back, pulling me closer. “My mother was old-fashioned. She camefrom a wealthy home and had a trust fund. When she got cancer, she put themoney aside and made it part of my inheritance. The only stipulation was that Ihad to be married to receive it.”
“Oh wow, she was a pretty smart woman.”
“Yes, she was. There’s more, theinheritance is split.”
“What do you mean split?”
“Well, I receive the initial amount ofthe inheritance and my wife, you, receives the interest accumulated.”
“Um—so I am getting money just formarrying you?” My cheeks flush red.
“Cookie, it’s not meant to be like that.It’s a gift from my mother. If it’s okay, I will arrange to have the paymentstransferred into one of the accounts. In fact, we should think about getting ajoint account. But that’s beside the point. The point is, we’ll get yearlypayments for the next ten years. After ten, we will receive the balance of theinheritance.”
“Oh, okay.” I say, a bit embarrassed. Heknows how hard the money thing has been for me. I’m not sure I even want toknow how much money the inheritance is.
“Well then, you’re really not going tolike what I have to say next.”
“Oh no, what?”
“No tears, baby, you know theconsequence.”
